Little Time to Rest for Fillies Soccer

Despite the Fillies 4-2 dramatic comeback victory over the Lake Zurich Bears in the first round of the IHSA 3A regional, Barrington’s coach Ryan Stengren didn’t give his team long to enjoy the win.

“Our next game starts now,” Stengren said moments after Barrington’s intense win.  “I’m really just focused on their recovery and us getting to the next game.”

The Fillies, who are hosting the regional, saw themselves down early in their match after Lake Zurich’s senior midfielder Brooke Sill scored on a nice volley from senior forward Gina McCoy.  The shot was just out of the reach of Barrington’s goalkeeper Kelly Pedersen but enough to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

“Anytime we can put the ball in the back of the net and gain that momentum, we play better,” Lake Zurich head coach Meghan Kolze said of the goal in the 17^th minute.  “That seems to give us confidence that we could compete with (Barrington).”

The Bears, who defeated Dundee Crown in the play-in game 4-3 (on penalty kicks) to set-up their match with Barrington, built on their lead when sophomore forward Vanesa Abad scored on a penalty kick off a Fillies’ handball.  The goal would give the Bears a two nil lead. Unfortunately for the Bears it would be the last time they would score as Barrington’s defense turned up the pressure in pursuit of loose balls, but the Lake Zurich defense felt confident in rising to the challenge.

“It was our game to lose,” Kolze said of her number four seeded Bears following the match.  “We felt that if we could contain them then there was no reason why we couldn’t win this game.”

But Barrington’s offense would be tough to hold down, starting with freshman defenseman Mia Calamari.  Calamari, who managed to cut into the deficit by scoring on a penalty kick, would get the Fillies on the board and give the home fans something to cheer for before half time.

Down 2-1, Barrington would push the action immediately after starting the second half and looked poised to tie the match on two separate occasions.  The Fillies appeared to have the equalizer in the 37^th and then again at the 32^nd minute, but each goal was negated due to costly offside calls.

Barrington would eventually tie the game on senior Dana Nelsen’s goal in the 25^th minute thanks to assists by senior Emily Hyde and sophomore forward Molly Pfeiffer.

“Dana’s goal was so big for us, because it was just what we needed to get us going at that time,” Pfeiffer said.

With the game knotted at two for the remainder of the second half, it appeared that the two teams were headed for overtime as the seconds ticked away, but the late game pressure only seemed to spur the Fillies on as they tacked on two goals in just a little over a minute to seal the game late.  First, at the 3:34 mark, Pfeiffer would put in what would turn out to be the eventual game winner off a crisp pass from the backfield from senior defenseman Emmelie Hirdes. 

“I think (Molly) Pfeiffer was the difference in the game tonight,” Kolze said of Pfeiffer’s goal and assist during the match.

The goal was Pfeiffer’s 10^th of the season and tied her with teammate Emily Hyde for team lead, if only for a short time.

Only briefly, because Hyde would score an insurance goal a little over a minute later (2:25 mark) to give the Fillies a 4-2 win.  The goal would be Hyde’s 11^th goal of the season.  Hyde would end the match with a goal and an assist.

“We are getting better as every game goes on,” Hyde said following the game.  “Now we just need to recover as a team, take care of ourselves, and do all the right things so we are in tip-top shape for Friday.”

Barrington will host the regional championship on Friday, May 20 at 6p.m. and will face the three seeded Jacobs Golden Eagles which defeated Cary-Grove 1-0 to set-up the match.